New Biz Advisory Board Named for NJIT's Enterprise Development Center
Jerry Creighton Sr., executive director of the EDC
The NJIT Enterprise Development Center (EDC) is pleased to announce the formation of a venture advisory board to provide business advice and guidance to portfolio companies located at EDC.
The new board brings a strong combination of business experience and knowledge of the marketplace and capital markets to assist the EDC portfolio companies to create strategies that will help to commercialize and implement innovation. “The advisory board at the EDC will be an important value added addition to the center’s array of entrepreneurship assistance, commercialization and business expansion support services. This is a win/win for all involved,” said Jerry Creighton Sr., executive director of the EDC.Among the services the board will provide are business assistance, strategic and operational advice and mentoring as well as access to resources, networks and funding sources. According to founding board member, Alan Wink, of EisnerAmper, “Our overall goal is to use the combined relationships, expertise and experiences of the board members to help the companies housed in the EDC increase deal flow, raise awareness of venture company needs and add value to the EDC program. In essence, we will help bridge the gap from entrepreneurial management to professional management.”
Along with Creighton and Judith Sheft, associate vice president of technology development at NJIT, members and affiliations of the new board are: David Sorin, attorney, SorinRand; Ray Thek, attorney, Lowenstein Sandler; Steve Dyer, chairman, JumpstartNJ; Lucas Nelson, associate, DFJ Gotham Ventures; Yanev Suissa, principal, New Enterprise Associates; Michael Moretti, senior vice president, Silicon Valley Bank; Linda Gridley, president and CEO, Gridley & Company; Lyneir Richardson, Brick City Development Corporation; Richard Cleaveland and Alan Wink, EisnerAmper; and Chris Kuenne, founder and non-executive chairman, Rosetta.
A technology and life sciences business development center, the EDC is located in Newark on the NJIT campus and offers offices, cubicles, laboratories and services, plus an array of commercialization services. It is dedicated to helping innovators develop, launch and commercialize products, services and processes for high-tech and life sciences companies. On an annual basis, the EDC houses an average of 90 portfolio companies with combined revenues ranging from $40 to $82 million, which attract from $58 to $67 million in third party investments.